Standards

Almost hurt myself laughing so hard after being lectured to by a hack salesman...News International chairman 'Les Hinton' (surely a fictitious monicker) accused 'citizen journalists' of "misrepresentation and failing to emulate the standards (sic) of traditional news organisations."

Well quite Leslie (pictured, right), but what would these standards be? Let's take a quick check over at the Sun, who have an exclusive..."Babes are a pit of alright. Sexy stunners put the phwoar into Formula 1" Phwoar indeed. Meanwhile over at the News of the World, they have an another exclusive story revealing to the world that Geri Halliwell is having a baby! A woman, having a baby? Amazing stuff.

What about the the other end of News Internationals stables?

The Times features the disgraceful rantings of Angus McLeod today('Charge of Scotland's touchy-feely brigade is a ludicrous spectacle')

The piece is riddled with inaccuracy, vaporous fascism and thinly-disguised racism. It's a good job nobody read the Times in Scotland as its the sort of drivel that would find itself so out of sync with public opinion the papers offices would get stoned. If this is the sort of 'standards' citizen journalism fails to uphold then good.

Leslie serves as Rupert Murdoch's chief lieutenant in London overseeing the Times, Sunday Times, Sun and News of the World, was speaking last night at a Chief Hacks conference in Windermere. Read the full drone here: Media Guardian (needs subscription)

In other news...the 1820 team were delighted to see that David Murray's Open Cast Mining Empire has been once again haemorrhaging profits.

The company GM (Gillespie Murray) has two open-cast mines in Fife and North Lanarkshire. GM produces 700,000 tonnes of coal a year, according to its website. Murray, with associate Graham Gillespie, set up GM Mining in 1997 to operate the 1200-acre Drumshangie open-cast mine near Airdrie, which it acquired from Scottish Coal.

Formerly a joint venture between Murray and family firm Gillespie Mining, GM became a subsidiary of the Rangers football club chief's metals-to-property empire in 1999. In 2004/05, the company posted a pre-tax loss of £8.3m, compared with a deficit of £8m the previous year, a sum which includes a £3m exceptional charge in respect of "costs associated with restoring land disturbed during mining activities".

Sales rose to £14.6m from £11.2m in 2004. In its annual report, signed off on September 16, GM disclosed that "restoration of the land is expected to be completed by November 2006".

Aye right.

Can you imagine what this sort of violent profiteering would be like if there was even a semblance of democracy in planning regulation or an ounce of integrity in the Scottish Executive? Open Cast mining is a low-employment tragedy for communities in South Lanarkshire who suffer the pollution of open cast mining - inevitably then compounded by the 'big holes' being filled-in as land-fill dumps.